HB2499: Aerospace Advisory Council; adds Director of Space Grant Consortium to serve as ex officio.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That 2.2-2699.1 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
2.2-2699.1. (Expires July 1, 2010) Aerospace Advisory Council; purpose; membership; compensation; chairman.
A. The Aerospace Advisory Council (the Council) is established as an advisory council, within the meaning of 2.2-2100, in the executive branch of state government. The purpose of the Council shall be to advise the Governor on policy and funding priorities to promote the aerospace and space exploration industry in the Commonwealth.
B. The Council shall have a total membership of 13 14
members that shall consist of four legislative members and 9 10 nonlegislative citizen members. Members shall be appointed as
follows: three members of the House of Delegates to be appointed by the Speaker
of the House of Delegates in accordance with the principles of proportional
representation contained in the Rules of the House of Delegates; one member of
the Senate, to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules and nine 10 nonlegislative citizen members, of whom one shall represent the
Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, one shall represent Old Dominion University,
and one shall represent Virginia Tech, to be appointed by the Governor. The Director of the
Virginia Space Grant Consortium shall serve as an ex officio
member with voting privileges. A representative of NASA Wallops
Flight Facility, a representative of NASA's Langley Research Center, and a
representative of the National Institute of Aerospace, all to be appointed by
the Governor, shall serve as ex-officio
liaisons to the Council with nonvoting privileges. Legislative members shall
serve terms coincident with their terms of office. Other members shall be
appointed for terms of two years. Appointments to fill vacancies, other than by
expiration of a term, shall be for the unexpired terms. Vacancies shall be
filled in the same manner as the original appointments. All members may be
reappointed.
C. Legislative members of the Council shall receive such compensation as provided in 30-19.12. Nonlegislative citizen members shall serve without compensation. All members shall be reimbursed for all reasonable and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties as provided in 2.2-2813 and 2.2-2825. Funding for compensation and expenses of legislative members shall be provided by the operating budgets of the Clerk of the House of Delegates and the Clerk of the Senate upon approval of the Joint Rules Committee. Funding for the costs of expenses of the nonlegislative citizen members and all other expenses of the Council shall be provided by the Office of the Secretary of Technology.
D. The Council shall elect a chairman and a vice-chairman annually from among its membership. A majority of the members shall constitute a quorum. The Council shall meet at such times as may be called by the chairman or a majority of the Council.
E. Staff to the Council shall be provided by the Office of the Secretary of Technology.